Comments Off on The 54th Grammy Awards: A night for celebration or sacrifice?

MELISSA KRENEK
Entertainment Editor

Though the 54th Grammy Awards was one for the books, it may have left a bad taste in the mouths of millions who watched the celebration.

Sure, there were winners and losers, but everything seemed to have a dark mist surrounding it due to the untimely death of Whitney Houston.

Even Lady Gaga, who always looks frightening, had a more sinister look than usual.

Before dissecting the night of the living dead, let’s focus on the winners and losers of music’s biggest night.

The biggest winners of the night by far were Adele and The Foo Fighters.

The latter, even with dance pop owning the air waves, were still able to snag five awards.
Adele won all six categories she was nominated for, including both song and album of the year.

Her winnings also gave her the coveted title of being the first British woman in history to win six awards.

Kanye West also did well for himself, having seven nominations, winning best rap album for “My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy,” best rap performance for “Otis,” (along with Jay Z) and best rap/sung collaboration for “All of the Lights.”

Taylor Swift made it out alive with best country solo performance and best country song for “Mean,” which she paired with an adorable performance of it with her new edgy fringe.

Now let’s look at the rookies of the night; two artists in particular come to mind.

One you may find on the streets of New York City or a smoky basement, the other is a hardcore hero turned dubstep god.

The first man mentioned is Bon Iver, real name Justin Vernon, who won best new artist even though he flat out refused to perform when asked to.
Even during his acceptance speech, he “poo-pooed” the event, acting more like a harsh critic than a grateful winner.

The latter of the two, Skrillex, an online sensation for college students everywhere, managed to nab three Grammys this year. These included best dance/electronic album and best dance recording.

In 2004, he was known as Sonny Moore, a teen heartthrob for the emo generation covered with teen angst and makeup galore.

His band at the time, From First to Last, was one of the headliners of their genre. Moore left the band in 2007 to pursue a solo career.
Five years and half a head shaved later, Skrillex is on top of the dance world with three gold statues and more minions than Lady Gaga.

The next part of the night were the performances, many of them overshadowed by past events.

After years of denial, Chris Brown was finally let back into the golden show, only to be judged harshly during his shining moment.
No matter what dance moves or vocal tricks Brown had up his sleeve, viewers couldn’t get past his violent history with ex-girlfriend Rihanna.
Rihanna followed her ex-beau with an interesting duet with Coldplay frontman Chris Martin.

Though Martin is usually eerily touching with his voice it seemed under par during this performance, even overshadowed by Rihanna, who usually isn’t known for her live performances.

But all three artists seemed to have the talent of Andrea Bocelli compared to Nicki Minaj’s bizarre performance of her new song “Roman Holiday.”

Minaj’s bark was worse than her bite in this instance, arriving at the awards in a long red cloak accompanied by what looked like a priest, but when it came to her talent she showed anything but.

Just the fact that she needed a pseudo exorcism to prove her point is symbolic of what little talent is left in the business.

Even her glassy-eyed followers were screaming for her mixtape days back. But this performance, as bizarre and talentless as it was, painted a grotesque image of what the industry has become.

Pair this with the mysterious death of Whitney Houston and many conspiracy theorists can cook up a very compelling argument surrounding underlying forces to this dark world of entertainment.

Why did both the Super Bowl and the Grammys incorporate dark religious symbols in their performances?
Is there a reason that Nicki Minaj showed up to the awards with a priest?

What about Lady Gaga’s scepter accessory?

Sometimes we as viewers need to look past the fashion faux pas and dig a little deeper into the meaning behind these bold statements.
Even though the Grammy ceremony is usually for artists to pat each other on the back, this year’s seemed to have a different, darker agenda.